A/N: Samtember Day 3 - Today's prompt was merely "crossover AU," so, I mean, heeeeyyyyy! :) Also, guess what? It's another Soulmate AU.
How do you feel about flying?
On any Avengers mission, civilians were arguably the most complicated element. If someone was shooting at us, they were usually pretty easily labeled a bad guy, and they needed to be taken out or neutralized in some way. Sure the motives of the bad guys were sometimes complex and not clear, but it still boiled down to the fact that we needed to stop them.
As far as police were concerned, it was usually fairly easy to liaise with them. Often they were the ones who had called us in, or they would quickly recognize us if not. Most of the time whoever was in command was the one who made a beeline for Cap when they saw us. After uncovering HYDRA's infiltration in SHIELD,saying "trust all the cops," didn't really work for any of us. But usually we could expect them not to be actively shooting at or attacking us.
Civilians, however, existed on a broad spectrum. Some of them were foolishly unafraid, and that was dangerous for everyone involved. If a civilian ran out to try to take a selfie with action in the background, someone had to go and protect them, potentially being pulled off another task. Not to mention, running out so that you were in the line of sight of the bad guys and then turning your back on them to take a picture was a really good way to get hurt.
Some civilians panicked. They saw what happened and completely froze, staring dumbfounded at danger. For others in that same group, all self-preservation instincts seemed to be suppressed and they ran. But they did so blindly, full of fear and into a bad situation.
Then there were the civilians who were decidedly other, a mixed bag that could be an asset or a hinderance. They occupied a variety of jobs and positions, but they were the fighters. Now, I couldn't hold it against them because I basically was one of them. When Captain America and the Black Widow showed up on my back porch needing help, I hadn't hesitated to join right in under really no one other than those two's authority. And many of the civilian fighters were like me, former military, law enforcement, etc. who were just trying to help.
When we showed up in Trenton, New Jersey to deal with some sort of robot problem, there was a large group of the last type of civilian actively fighting. They all seemed to be in some sort of uniform, but they definitely weren't cops. Those I saw were all men, and from the way they carried themselves and the techniques they used while fighting, I was fairly certain we were dealing with former-military.
Trenton was the site of the latest batch of wanna-be Emperors of the World testing out their own version of armored, powered robots. And they were bent on destruction, though thankfully they weren't all that good at it. The bodies of the robots were, as our civilian group appeared to have discovered, easily penetrable by bullets. That was the good news. The bad news was that they seemed to be modeled after cats for some reason. Or, well, I figured given their size it was more like they were modeled after tigers.
As soon as the jet landed, someone peeled off from one of the groups and ran for us, skidding to a stop and waiting for the ramp to close.
"My name is Ranger Manoso, CEO of Rangeman Security. I've got people in the field trying to help, and we're on frequency 443, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't shut that down. You're welcome to hop on if you need or want to listen in.
Cap gave me a look, and I commanded FRIDAY to tune in and relay that audio to me in addition to the team's. It made the most sense for me, as one of the lower firepower fliers who had a birdseye view of the scene to monitor that.
As we battled, it became clear that the civilian team wasn't all male. Strangely I kept hearing "Steph", "Babe", "Beautiful", "Little Girl", "Angel", and other definitely feminine names, but I only ever briefly caught sight of one woman. She seemed to be doing pretty well when confronted with a robot, but primarily was focused on clearing targeted areas of other civilians.
Things were beginning to wind down, and chatter on our civilians' channel was mostly quiet, when it opened again to the woman's voice saying, "Ranger, I need help."
"Tell me where you are, Babe. What the situation is," the voice I recognized from earlier prompted.
The connection opened again, only to cut out suddenly with a crashing noise. I had been standing on the roof of a building, looking for the next robot to fight when the woman had spoken. As soon as the connection violently broke, however, I took off.
Over the Avengers communication channel, I said, "alright, team, one of Manoso's team called in under distress. She was evacuating civilians when I caught sight of her earlier, so I don't know if she's alone."
"Can't you ask?" Steve panted out.
"Her mic went dead, and I don't think it was by choice." Then I caught sight of what I thought to be her, cornered by a pack of robots. Opening both airwaves, I reported "I got eyes on her, she appears to be alone. She's in an alley with a pack on her; I'm taking her out of there, then I'll circle back."
"I'm clear," Bucky said. "I've got eyes on your location; I'm moving in, and I'll take care of the robots as soon as you get her clear."
I thought that sounded even better. Barnes and his robot arm were easily able to rip through the inferior robots, and I didn't need to prove anything myself or anyone else on the team.
Swooping down, I landed between the woman and the approaching robots. I looked over my shoulder and hollered, "how do you feel about flying?"
"I've always wanted to fly," she said with a grin. "And now seems like the perfect time."
I spun around and pulled her into a brief kiss in acknowledgment of the fact that she'd said those words written in black on the palm of my hand. Of course, remembering the robots, I slid her arms up around my neck, smiled at her reassuringly, and we took off.
Once we were in the air, I said, "Steph, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'm going to tell your team that I have you, where do you want me to take you?"
"Tell them I just met my soulmate, and we're going somewhere we can be alone."
Her eyes met mine in a challenge, and I let a smile cross my face. "We really are meant for each other, aren't we?"